Journal Article

Teachers’ Perceptions of School Organizational Climate as Predictors of Dosage and Quality of Implementation of a Social-Emotional and Character Development Program

DuBois, David L., Flay, Brian R., Malloy, Margaret, Acock, Alan, Silverthorn, Naida, Vuchinich, Samuel, Ji, Peter

2015

Overview

Organizational climate has been proposed as a factor that might influence a school’s readiness to successfully implement school-wide prevention programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of teachers’ perceptions of three dimensions of school organizational climate on the dosage and quality of teacher implementation of Positive Action , a social-emotional and character development (SECD) program. The dimensions measured were teachers’ perceptions of (a) the school’s openness to innovation, (b) the extent to which schools utilize participatory decision-making practices, and (c) the existence of supportive relationships among teachers (teacher-teacher affiliation). Data from 46 teachers in seven schools enrolled in the treatment arm of a longitudinal, cluster-randomized, controlled trial were analyzed. Teacher perceptions of a school’s tendency to be innovative was associated with a greater number of lessons taught and self-reported quality of delivery, and teacher-teacher affiliation was associated with a higher use of supplementary activities. The findings suggest that perceptions of a school’s organizational climate impact teachers’ implementation of SECD programs and have implications for school administrators and technical assistance providers as they work to implement and sustain prevention programs in schools.

• Publisher: Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Administrators / Adolescent / Adolescent Development / Chicago / Child / Child and School Psychology / Child Development / Curricula / Decision making / Development programs / Dosage / Educational attainment / Elementary schools / Emotions / Faculty / Female / Health Psychology / Humans / Implementation / Innovations / Interpersonal Relations / Intervention / Male / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Openness / Organizational climate / Organizational Culture / Perceptions / Personality development / Poverty Areas / Prevention / Prevention programs / Program implementation / Psychology / Public Health / Quality / Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / School environment / Schools / Schools - organization & administration / Science / Social development / Statistics as Topic / Student teacher relationship / Studies / Teachers / Technical assistance / Work environment